College and Research Libraries


B y C A R L B J O R K B O M 

A Plan for Centralized Cataloging 
Mr. Bjorkbom is head librarian, Royal 

Institute of Technology Library, Stock-

holm, Sweden. 

C a t a l o g s have a f u n d a m e n t a l role in the 

administration of a l i b r a r y and constitute 

a necessary tool f o r m a k i n g its l i t e r a r y re-

sources available to readers. A c c o r d i n g l y 

m u c h w o r k goes into m a k i n g the c a t a l o g s 

as complete and as exhaustive as possible. 

O n the other hand, c a t a l o g i n g must not 

be considered as the l i b r a r i a n ' s chief task 

and must not be c u l t i v a t e d w i t h too m a n y 

refinements at the expense of other l i b r a r y 

w o r k , especially acquisition and reference 

w o r k . F . E . F i t z g e r a l d is quite right in 

p o i n t i n g out in Special Libraries f o r F e b r u -

a r y 1 9 4 6 that clerical w o r k takes too m u c h 

time in libraries. 

In recent years c a t a l o g i n g costs have 

been the o b j e c t of some investigation in 

A m e r i c a , and the results of these studies 

have been surprising not only f o r librarians 

but even more f o r trustees and g o v e r n i n g 

authorities. F r e m o n t R i d e r has published 

data r e g a r d i n g one W e s l e y a n U n i v e r s i t y 

L i b r a r y in his remarkable book The 

Scholar and the Future of the Research Li-

brary ( 1 9 4 4 ) . H e contends that catalog-

i n g costs a m o u n t on the a v e r a g e to $ 1 . 0 5 

per book. T h e a v e r a g e price f o r the book 

w a s $2.90 and the b i n d i n g costs $ 1 . 5 0 . 

T h e relative c a t a l o g i n g costs are still 

more s t r i k i n g if one compares the total 

costs divided by the n u m b e r of books, since 

A m e r i c a n university libraries g e n e r a l l y ac-

quire a g r e a t m a n y v o l u m e s as g i f t s or in 

exchange, and m a n y of these books are al-

ready bound w h e n they enter the l i b r a r y . 

T h e unit cost data g i v e n by R i d e r a r e : 

acquisition, $ 0 . 9 5 ; binding, $ 0 . 4 0 ; and 

c a t a l o g i n g , $ 1 . 0 5 . 

O f these three expenses c a t a l o g i n g costs 

are the only ones w h i c h c o u l d be reduced 

by means of refinement of o r g a n i z a t i o n . 

M u c h has already been achieved in this 

field. C l e r i c a l staff m e m b e r s — a t least in 

some l i b r a r i e s — a r e n o w assigned to copy-

i n g titles of books. 

Simplified c a t a l o g i n g has been tried in 

some libraries, but the s a v i n g in labor has 

no relation to the reduced v a l u e of the 

catalogs. O n e must a l w a y s remember that 

c a t a l o g s are of v a l u e not only to the 

patrons but also the staff, and that the 

omission of certain data on the c a t a l o g 

cards may mean more w o r k to the librarians 

engaged in searching or bibliographical 

w o r k . 

T h e only w a y of r e d u c i n g the costs 

w o u l d be to o r g a n i z e c e n t r a l i z e d catalog-

ing. I t must seem i r r a t i o n a l that as soon 

as a book has been published and acquired 

by the libraries, hundreds of catalogers sit 

d o w n to an absolutely identical j o b of 

t r a n s f e r r i n g certain data f r o m the title page 

to the c a t a l o g card. 

A f u n d a m e n t a l condition .for a central 

c a t a l o g i n g service is, of course, that the 

catalogs in the different libraries have the 

same f o r m a t and style. W i t h r e g a r d to the 

f o r m a t , 3 " x 5 " (7,5 x 1 2 5 m m ) cards have 

been s t a n d a r d i z e d f o r most libraries. W i t h 

regard to the style of c a t a l o g codes, h o w -

ever, w e are still f a r f r o m any standard, at 

least i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y . 

B u t the prospect for c e n t r a l i z e d catalog-

i n g is not so dismal as it w o u l d seem at 

JULY, 1951 
29 7 



t h e first sight. C a t a l o g i n g consists of t h r e e 
o p e r a t i o n s : c o p y i n g of t h e title, c o l l a t i o n 
a n d selection of the h e a d i n g . T h e basic 
d i f f e r e n c e b e t w e e n t h e d i f f e r e n t c a t a l o g i n g 
codes revolves a r o u n d t h e h e a d i n g . A t all 
events, the h e a d i n g is t h e only p a r t of t h e 
c a t a l o g card w h i c h is of f u n d a m e n t a l im-
p o r t a n c e f o r a n i n d i v i d u a l c a t a l o g i n g sys-
t e m . I t should t h e r e f o r e be possible to 
m a k e a u n i t c a r d , c o n t a i n i n g t h e t r a n s c r i p -
tion of t h e t i t l e a n d t h e c o l l a t i o n , to w h i c h 
d i f f e r e n t l i b r a r i e s could a d d t h e h e a d i n g 
a p p r o p r i a t e to t h e i r c a t a l o g i n g system. 
O n e m u s t o n l y r e m e m b e r t h a t t h e t i t l e 
m u s t t h e n be given in f u l l , since t h e w o r d 
used as h e a d i n g or c o r p o r a t e h e a d i n g is 
g e n e r a l l y o m i t t e d in t h e t r a n s c r i p t i o n of 
t h e t i t l e . 

C e n t r a l i z e d c a t a l o g i n g can be effected 
in t w o w a y s , e i t h e r by h a v i n g t h e c a r d s 
m a d e by a c e n t r a l i n s t i t u t i o n w h i c h d u p l i -
cates t h e c a r d s f o r d i s t r i b u t i o n to o t h e r 
libraries, or by h a v i n g t h e c a t a l o g c a r d s 
m a d e by the p r o d u c e r s of t h e books so t h a t 
t h e c a r d s could be delivered to t h e l i b r a r i e s 
a t t h e same t i m e as t h e book. T h e first 
w a y is t h e o n l y one as yet t r i e d , b u t it has 
a v e r y serious d i s a d v a n t a g e , viz., t h e in-
evitable delay w h i c h r e s u l t s f r o m t h e f a c t 
t h a t t h e c a r d s m u s t be o r d e r e d by t h e d i f -
f e r e n t libraries. 

T h e o t h e r w a y w o u l d , of course, be 
ideal, b u t it is q u i t e impossible to t h i n k 

t h a t all p u b l i s h e r s s h o u l d give this service 
to t h e i r c u s t o m e r s . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , 
even if only some of t h e m could p r o v i d e 
c a r d s w h i c h could be used by t h e m a j o r i t y 
of t h e libraries, this w o u l d m e a n a g r e a t 
h e l p a n d a r e d u c t i o n of c a t a l o g i n g costs. 

T h e r e is one class of p u b l i s h e r s w h i c h 
could be said t o h a v e a special o b l i g a t i o n 
in t h i s m a t t e r . T h e s e a r e scientific societies 
and i n s t i t u t i o n s . T h e i r p u b l i c a t i o n s a r e 
d i s t r i b u t e d as e x c h a n g e s or as g i f t s t o li-
b r a r i e s . A s a r u l e , they have t h e i r o w n 
l i b r a r i e s a n d s t a f f s c o m p e t e n t to m a k e t h e 
o r i g i n a l c a r d s . T h e s e i n s t i t u t i o n s o f t e n 
spend a lot of m o n e y in o r d e r to publish 
t h e r e s u l t s of t h e i r investigations, and it is. 
r e a s o n a b l e t h a t t h e y should spend a bit m o r e 
in o r d e r t o help t h e l i b r a r i e s b r i n g t h e i r 
p u b l i c a t i o n s t o the a t t e n t i o n of r e a d e r s . 
I t m u s t be r e m e m b e r e d t h a t t h e c a t a l o g i n g 
of serials published by societies a n d i n s t i t u -
tions g e n e r a l l y takes m o r e t i m e t h a n t h e 
c a t a l o g i n g of o r d i n a r y books. 

T h e R o y a l I n s t i t u t e of T e c h n o l o g y , 
S t o c k h o l m , has f o r some y e a r s been s e n d i n g 
w i t h each issue of its Handlingar (Trans-
actions) a s t r i p t o be c u t u p into t h r e e c a r d s , 
t w o of t h e m t o be used as e n t r i e s f o r each 
n u m b e r in t h e a u t h o r a n d t h e s u b j e c t c a t a -
logs r e s p e c t i v e l y ; t h e t h i r d to be used as a 
series c a r d . A s i m i l a r p r o g r a m by o t h e r 
i n s t i t u t i o n s w o u l d be a g r e a t help t o t h e 
l i b r a r i e s all over t h e w o r l d . 

Correction 
T h e statistics published in the issue for April 1951 contain a serious error on p.185. In the 

salary statistics for "Group II Libraries" Denison University is listed as paying $I,200-$I,900 
to all other professional assistants (10 months basis). Actually, these salaries should have been 
entered under " A l l Nonprofessional Assistants." 

Opposite " L o w " at the foot of this page the column headed "All Other Professional As-
sistants" should read $1,800 instead of $1,200. 

Apologies are due Denison for this calumny and appreciation for the good humor with which 
this error has been treated.—Arthur T. Hamlin. 

254 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES